Checks and Challenges · Tribunals

Chartered Surveyor League Table

This is a list of the chartered surveyors who have gone to the Valuation Tribunal for England on behalf of ratepayers over the last six years, and a record of how they performed. It covers every firm named on 20 or more business rates appeal decisions since 2020: how many cases each took to a hearing, how often the tribunal reduced the rateable value, and by how much.

Ryan has taken the most appeals to tribunal (964 decisions), followed by Avison Young (256) and Colliers (182). Across the 18 firms in the table, 58% of the cases argued at a hearing won a reduction. Read it as a record of what happened, not a forecast: the appeals that reach a tribunal are the ones the two sides could not settle.

Decisions to 21 September 2026 Table updated 27 September 2026 Valuation Tribunal for England Open Government Licence v3

Firms in the table

18

each named on 20 or more decisions since 2020

Tribunal decisions

2,322

appeals these firms took to a decision

Average win rate when argued

58% of 2,114

cases argued at a hearing that won any reduction

Typical cut when won

11%

median reduction in rateable value where the tribunal cut it

The league table

Current to the tribunal decision of 21 September 2026. Ranked by number of decisions. “Move” compares each firm’s rank with the end of August 2026. Download the table as CSV or JSON.

Chartered surveyors ranked by business rates tribunal decisions, 2020 to 21 September 2026
RankMoveFirmDecisionsArgued at hearingNot attended**Win rate when arguedTypical cut when wonCouncilsLatest decision
1–Ryan Includes Altus Group, whose property tax business Ryan bought in 20259649511347% (443 of 951)9.9%213
2–Colliers1821691360% (102 of 169)13%84
3–Lambert Smith Hampton157619649% (30 of 61)14.3%80
4–Knight Frank110108265% (70 of 108)23.2%33
5–CBRE93633040% (25 of 63)13.3%36
6–GL Hearn Now part of WSP6861766% (40 of 61)11.4%42
7–Newmark Formerly Gerald Eve6666062% (41 of 66)22.3%40
8–Rabbette6464055% (35 of 64)17.9%35
9–Montagu Evans6259373% (43 of 59)21.5%27
10–JMA Chartered Surveyors6161079% (48 of 61)22.3%18
11–Ken Batty6160135% (21 of 60)4.8%28
12–BNP Paribas Real Estate5045571% (32 of 45)21.8%29
13–JLL3731661% (19 of 31)7%23
14–Conneely Tribe3130160% (18 of 30)21.6%11
15–Allsop2581788% (7 of 8)26%16
16–Dunlop Heywood2517847% (8 of 17)15.2%16
17–Savills2519684% (16 of 19)16.8%15
*–Avison Young*256255198% (250 of 255)8.3%10

* Avison Young. Avison Young's record is dominated by a single portfolio of London office appeals: nearly all of its cases were City of London and Southwark offices decided on three dates in 2025, almost every one reduced in part by a similar modest amount. It is shown at the foot of the table because that one portfolio, rather than a spread of cases, sets its figures.

How the table is worked out

We read every business rates appeal decision the Valuation Tribunal for England has published since 2020 and recorded who represented the ratepayer. Offices and individual surveyors are grouped under their firm, so “Colliers International – Manchester” counts as Colliers. Where two firms are named on one appeal, it counts for both. Appeals about cash machines are left out, as on every tribunal page on this site.

A case is won when the tribunal reduced the rateable value at all: allowed in full, allowed in part, or a figure agreed at the hearing. The win rate counts only cases argued at a hearing. The typical cut is the median percentage reduction in cases where the tribunal lowered the value.

What “not attended” means

194 of the 209 not-attended cases in this table are appeals against the old 2010 rating list. Most were closed in two batch hearings in March 2023, years after they were lodged, when nobody came forward to argue them. They say more about appeals that had been dropped than about a firm missing a hearing.

Reading the win rate fairly

Most appeals settle with the Valuation Officer before a hearing, so this table shows how firms do when a case is fought to the end, not their overall results for clients. A firm that settles well may appear rarely here. A high rate on a handful of cases, or on one run of similar properties, can move a long way on the next decision.

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